Charles Boustany defeats Jeff Landry in Louisiana House race

Rep. Charles Boustany has defeated fellow GOP Rep. Jeff Landry in Louisiana’s 3rd District on Saturday, according to the Associated Press, bringing a close to the final undetermined congressional contest of the 2012 cycle.

With 97.2 percent of precincts reporting, Boustany led Landry 60.8 percent to 39.2 percent, or 58,084 votes to 37,403.

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The two incumbent congressmen had been forced to compete for the same southwestern Louisiana seat as a result of redistricting. The state shed one district in the last round of reapportionment, shrinking its delegation from seven seats to six.

Neither Boustany, nor Landry won a majority of votes cast in the Nov. 6 open primary, sending them to a Dec. 8 runoff. Boustany won 45 percent to Landry’s 30 percent on Nov. 6.

The race pitted two warring wings of the Republican Party. Boustany, a four-term member with experience on the powerful, tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is a close ally of Speaker John Boehner and had support from many of his Republican colleagues. Landry, a freshman who rode into office in the 2010 red wave, had the backing of conservative groups like FreedomWorks and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a leading figure in the tea-party movement.

Landry cast Boustany as a moderate tool of Washington insiders, hammering him for his support for some earmarks. Boustany, meanwhile, portrayed his first-term opponent as an ineffective politician who routinely missed votes.

Boustany had been considered the strong favorite. He had previously represented nearly 80 percent of the newly drawn district, and Landry had represented just about one-fifth of it. That left the freshman — a political newcomer — with the tall hurdle of introducing himself to a large swath of new voters.

Boustany also benefitted from the upper hand in the fundraising game, taking advantage of his membership in a Ways and Means panel that promises strong cash-raising returns. Through Nov. 18, he had outraised the more junior Landry $3.8 million to $2.1 million.

For Landry, a former trial attorney who enjoys wide support in the conservative world, the question now turns to his political future. Some have mentioned him as a possible candidate for state attorney or for Senate in 2014, when Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is up for reelection.

Excellent. The triumph of rationality over mindless right-wing mania. Hopefully a harbringer of better things to come. Politics is the art of compromise. With the real (as opposed to the imaginary) problems facing the nation, Congress must act rationally to achieve the compromises necessary to both reduce the deficit and protect the citizens.